The present invention relates to a reusable thermal beverage container, for example, suitable for coffee, providing a secure account identifier permitting the container to be used like a gift card.
Disposable coffee cups present a burden to landfills. By some estimates Americans use 23 billion disposable coffee cups per year. Conventional polystyrene foam disposable cups are lightweight and provide for good thermal insulation but are not typically recycled and are not biodegradable. Disposable paper cups can be biodegradable but often cannot be recycled because of plastic resins used to control liquid absorbency on the cup surface. Further, paper cups generally incorporate only small amounts of recycled paper because of concerns about allowing recycled paper to come into contact with food and beverages and because of problems with strength. Paper cups, particularly when used with insulating sleeves, present significant costs in water, energy, trees and landfill space.
A simple solution to the problems presented by disposable coffee cups is the use of a reusable thermal mug. The manufacture of such reusable mugs also presents environmental costs, but these are costs are typically outweighed by the savings so long as the mug is consistently reused in lieu of disposable cups.
Reusable mugs are often not reused when coffee is purchased at a retail provider. Attempts to encourage such reuse often consider providing a monetary incentive to the purchaser who does not use a disposable cup. Unfortunately although the cumulative societal benefit of avoiding disposable cups is large, on an individual basis, the cost savings to the retailer are only a few cents, an amount that may be insufficient to provide the desired motivation. Retailers are understandably reluctant to impose a higher, punitive incentive payment on customers that might drive away customers.